DMP Mutual Support Thread (Part 5)

tinkerbell12

MassiveDebts,

The figures from CCCS are just recommendations and if you think this is tight, ask to increase it. We did this with ours - £300 for 2 adults and one child didn't seem enough and so we settled at £320 before the food increases and now just about manage it.

ToffeePenny - well done for at least admitting you bought the 10 fags! Now, what have you done with the other 9???!!!

marfan_not_martian

Either ask to increase your shopping or tell them about your pet that you forgot about when completing the DMP - to give you a bit extra

msc1977

massivedebts wrote: »

Msc1977
Hi!
Do you mind me asking what you have set your shopping budget at. We are a family of 2 adults & 2 kids, and we have been given an allowance of £383 for the month by CCCS, I didn't think you were able to alter this, unless reducing of course, do you know if this is correct?
MD xx

Hi MD

They automatically set mine at £318 for 2+1 but when I called yesterday i upped it to about £354 (stange figure but this makes my DMP payment a nice round £700 a month!!). The guy i spoke to told me the maximum they allow is £370 for 2+1 but you could add a little into other areas to build it up ie pets etc. I'm sure with an extra child to us you should also be able to increase it.

msc

msc1977

marfan_not_martian wrote: »

Either ask to increase your shopping or tell them about your pet that you forgot about when completing the DMP - to give you a bit extra

:rotfl: LOL Didnt see this before i typed my reply to MD...so true though.....we're allowed £21 for pets (the figure they gave us) .... we have a dog and two cats so its tight keeping their food etc in this and it doesnt account for vets bills either but if i keep upping these things its just reducing my debt payment.

bexxie90

Reading budgets has worried me a bit now. I am starting with payplan and they have given me a budget of £493 for food and £30 for my cat. We are 2 adults and 2 children. Curious!

One Q I have if you dont mind?

I received all paperwork today and wondered when you send back they say to send bills,statements ect. Well I only have a couple. Do i need every one for my creditors (15 in total :eek: )

Thanks Bex.xx

msc1977

bexxie90 wrote: »

Reading budgets has worried me a bit now. I am starting with payplan and they have given me a budget of £493 for food and £30 for my cat. We are 2 adults and 2 children. Curious!

One Q I have if you dont mind?

I received all paperwork today and wondered when you send back they say to send bills,statements ect. Well I only have a couple. Do i need every one for my creditors (15 in total :eek: )

Thanks Bex.xx

Bex

This is one of the reasons its taken me an extra month to get everything sorted as i've had to wait for some statements to come through...and yes thy told me to send one for all creditors - i have 17!!! Some are relatively small amounts that i could clear easily in two or three months but as they all have to be treated the same i've included them. i would either wait an extra month for the rest of the statements to come thru or call your creditors and request copies.

HTH

msc

2spicy

Well after a smooth start, things have started to go a little off at at a tangent.
MBNA Aegis have been a real pain, missed calls and texts. The calls we have managed to catch, the Indians have been rather agressive and, even after being polite for 15 minutes or more, will not accept they are not getting the outstanding arrears and start to get a little shirty. this has resulted in the phone being put down a few times, only for them to call the mobile and hang up !.
THis morning we recieved a nice portcard saying they would be calling around today. suprise suprise, no one arrived So its time to put pen to paper and tell them they are not welcome at our door.

3 firther letters from the creditors we approached asking them to accept FnF payments have all been responded too refusing our offer of 50% of the outstanding balances, so were going to put the cash away and move the rest of the debt to the DMP and scr3w the lot of them.
Mint finally defaulted the account and Barclaycard / barclaycard Loans have been really quiet.

On a lighter point, This months DMP payment has been made and, for the first time in 20 plus years, our bank account is actually still in credit after all our bills and food allowance has been taken out.
Other half is working away this week so thats an extra food allowance not used as his company will feed him So I think I will treat him to a nice curry on Friday Night.

Looking forward to March as the Mortgage moves from fixed to Standard Variable. That should mean an extra £200 a month spare.

Ive been doing some part time cash in the hand work too, so hope to beable to afford a family holiday later in the year (again, the first time it will not have been put on a credit card!)

massivedebts

Thanks Guys!:beer:

I've got an appointment to speak to them on Tuesday morning and I'm going to go through the budget again with them. I think better to start off lower and then be in a position to increase my DMP payments, rather than realise 3 months down the line we're skint again!! :eek:

Have a great day:T

MD xx

marfan_not_martian

2spicy wrote: »

Well after a smooth start, things have started to go a little off at at a tangent.
MBNA Aegis have been a real pain, missed calls and texts. The calls we have managed to catch, the Indians have been rather agressive and, even after being polite for 15 minutes or more, will not accept they are not getting the outstanding arrears and start to get a little shirty. this has resulted in the phone being put down a few times, only for them to call the mobile and hang up !.
THis morning we recieved a nice portcard saying they would be calling around today. suprise suprise, no one arrived So its time to put pen to paper and tell them they are not welcome at our door.

3 firther letters from the creditors we approached asking them to accept FnF payments have all been responded too refusing our offer of 50% of the outstanding balances, so were going to put the cash away and move the rest of the debt to the DMP and scr3w the lot of them.
Mint finally defaulted the account and Barclaycard / barclaycard Loans have been really quiet.

On a lighter point, This months DMP payment has been made and, for the first time in 20 plus years, our bank account is actually still in credit after all our bills and food allowance has been taken out.
Other half is working away this week so thats an extra food allowance not used as his company will feed him So I think I will treat him to a nice curry on Friday Night.

Looking forward to March as the Mortgage moves from fixed to Standard Variable. That should mean an extra £200 a month spare.

Ive been doing some part time cash in the hand work too, so hope to beable to afford a family holiday later in the year (again, the first time it will not have been put on a credit card!)

Hi 2spicy I would defo write to them tell them all future correspondence to be made in writing.

Its a good feeling isnt it - looking at your bank account and seeing you still have money there to pay for everything rather than keep sticking it on the old plastic. My first DMP goes out 1st March and I am starting to feel better off than I ever did having loads of money available on credit cards.

marfan_not_martian

massivedebts wrote: »

Thanks Guys!:beer:

I've got an appointment to speak to them on Tuesday morning and I'm going to go through the budget again with them. I think better to start off lower and then be in a position to increase my DMP payments, rather than realise 3 months down the line we're skint again!! :eek:

Have a great day:T

MD xx

Thats exactly what I did -started my dmp payment off low so that I didnt skint myself and I can always increase payments in a few months rather than having to drop the payment within the first 3 months because I had been tight with the budget figures.

Good luck with your phone call they are all very helpful and there to help they do not pass judgement just give you honest open advice.

Have a great day everyone - the sun is shining here

MNM xx